Lady Vols regroup after opening loss

Now that Tennessee has gotten a glimpse of Philadelphia, the Lady Vols can spend the next two months or so concentrating on what they need to do to get back there.

Tennessee remained a solid No. 2 behind Connecticut on Monday in The Associated Press women's basketball poll after two impressive victories on the road.

The Lady Vols overwhelmed DePaul 100-66 in Chicago, then went to Philadelphia -- site of this season's Final Four -- and beat St. Joseph's 82-59.

After losing to Louisiana Tech in its opener, coach Pat Summitt's team has won eight straight and appears to be rounding into shape. Tennessee has averaged 91 points in those eight wins. In the last four games, its victory margin has not been below 23.

''We have some improving to do,'' the ever demanding Summitt said. ''But I think we're on the right track.''

Connecticut, which has been No. 1 all season, stayed there without breaking a sweat. Idle during the past week, Connecticut received 40 of 43 first-place votes and 1,072 points from the media panel -- 47 more than Tennessee.

With only three Top 25 teams losing in the past seven days, all to other ranked teams, there was little change in the poll. The Top 10 stayed the same and the poll had the same 25 teams as last week.

The biggest changes were Oregon dropping four places to 19th after losing to UC Santa Barbara, and Arizona climbing three places to 14th.

North Carolina State (9-0) was fourth and Georgia fifth, followed by UCLA, Texas Tech, Auburn, Penn State and North Carolina. Texas Tech (9-0) and Auburn (8-1) were the busiest teams in the Top 25, each winning three times during the past week.

No. 11 Purdue and No. 12 Notre Dame traded places from last week and LSU remained at No. 13. Arizona moved to 14th and was followed by Rutgers, Iowa State, Duke, Illinois, Oregon and Old Dominion.

Mississippi State, UC Santa Barbara, Kansas, Tulane and Texas held the final five places.

Many teams played only once during the past week because players were taking final exams, and Connecticut was one of three ranked teams that did not play at all. Duke and Old Dominion were the others.

Kansas and Texas were the only other Top 25 teams that lost in the past week. Kansas lost to Illinois 61-59 in Chicago and Texas lost at Rutgers 68-64, a game that gave Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer her 600th career victory.

Only Texas coach Jody Conradt and Summitt, both with more than 700 victories, have more than Stringer.

Tennessee is rolling behind veterans Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement. Sophomore center Michelle Snow has taken on a greater role this season and freshman Kara Lawson has become a major contributor. Lawson is the team's third-leading scorer (14.1) and top 3-point shooter.

''Tennessee is so physical,'' said St. Joseph's coach Stephanie Gaitley, whose team had defeated Stanford 69-41 five days earlier. ''We had an easy time getting in our offense against Stanford. We didn't get in an offense against Tennessee.''